Join the Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce for business and breakfast with Ed Lambert, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, on Thursday, Feb. 27, starting at 8 a.m., at Stoneforge Tavern and Restaurant. Cost is $20 for members; $30 for non-members. Pre-registration strongly recommended. Ed Lambert is the Executive Director of MBAE. Previously he was vice chancellor for government relations and public affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston where he served in the Chancellor’s cabinet responsible for all external relations and related functions including community relations, government relations, community partnerships, economic development communications, and marketing. For thirty years, MBAE has effectively advanced state education policies that have significantly improved Massachusetts' public schools. MBAE helped set a high bar for learning for ALL students; successfully advocated for vigorous state intervention to turn around chronically underperforming schools and providing the leaders of struggling schools with authority and flexibility to make changes in the best interest of students; helped develop the state’s grant proposal that secured an unprecedented $250 million federal education grant; produced research that provided the catalyst for legislation that saved cities and towns more than $100 million in employee health care costs, making those funds available for education; provided critical evidence and support for the state’s adoption of updated learning goals that reflect essential 21st century skills like critical thinking and problem solving; led the call for a new MCAS that is more aligned with college and career expectations; and, led the legal challenge that succeeded in removing a question from the ballot that would have set students back.